The winter solstice has come, the days are getting longer and it looks like it will be a dry winter, especially in the northeastern part of North America, unfortunately.  I hear the Front Range in Colorado is getting snow, however. That’s good.

I asked Santa for a snowy season in Peaklessburg, but it looks more like I am getting a lump of coal; I don’t know what I did to deserve this again.

I wanted to recommend just a couple of good winter reads for those of you taking a bit of time off work around the holidays with some R&R time. They are all Internet accessible and freely available:

• Skagit Alpinism — Colin Haley’s blog. He’s in Patagonia for their summer and he has already provided some worthwhile updates.
• James Pearson’s blog — His climbs are not as well known to North Americans but they ought to be. His blog is updated infrequently but worth checking out, even if just for his quality photography.
• Matt McCormick’s blog — A native of Vermont and a good alpinist, his posts bring you into the climb — often with just trip reports but he often shares more color than that of what might go in the AAJ.
• Mountain Rescue Blog — This blog by a first responder, Ethan Zook, gives information and matters to consider. We all engage in some risk so let’s embrace it. However, at the same time let’s be prepared for that off percentage of things that go wrong.

Thanks for dropping by again. If you enjoyed this post, please consider following the Suburban Mountaineer on Facebook or Twitter. Carpe climb ‘em, have a happy holiday season and Merry Christmas!